We can grow so insensitive over time to what is familiar that we dissociate ourselves from its true meaning and implications. “Oh yes, I know that. I’ve heard it before.” The question becomes: “Am I hearing it now?”
The one group that Jesus consistently called out with rebuke and forceful warning was not the oppressive Romans, not the unbelieving neighboring tribes, not the Samaritan half-breeds, not even the Israelites who were unable to strictly keep God’s Law (at least as interpreted by the majority of teachers of Jesus’ day). Jesus got after the religious leaders, represented by the teachers of the Law (Scribes), the priestly class, and the zealous laymen – the Pharisees. Instead of bringing the ordinary people closer to God, they pushed a righteous life beyond the reach of almost all. “Woe to you!”Jesus cries out. “This isn’t what God wants!”
In Luke 11:52, Jesus unleashes an especially poignant broadside. “You scholars of God’s Law are in big trouble! You hold back the key of knowledge, refusing to enter yourselves, while blocking the way for others who are trying to enter.” Harsh.
In Jesus’ day, only a tiny minority of the people could read. These understood and practiced their faith by listening carefully to what was transmitted orally, memorizing the content, repeating what they heard in prayer and in instructing their children. The scholars of the Law were able to read and write. They had a privileged place in society. They had direct access to the written word, including the Word of God – the Scriptures. They had the possibility to enter into, to immerse themselves in, and to ponder deeply the full meaning of God’s Law. Most of them didn’t. Rather, they just repeated and debated the teachings and arguments of one another.
In doing so, these scholars of the Law whom Jesus addressed so pointedly could only pass on to the people who depended on them for knowledge well-digested food – nothing life-giving. They refused to dive into and wrestle with God’s Word, and in doing so, they failed in their responsibility to teach. Real teachers are excited to learn, to grow, and to share what they have learned with others.
Knowledge, in the biblical tradition, is not a static storehouse of facts, information, canned truths, but an ongoing, dynamic process based on personal experience. You know what/who you have experienced and are experiencing in your life. If what you know is not constantly evolving, something in you is frozen in time, stuck, if not already dead. All you have to offer is nostalgia.
Life happens. Life is continually changing. As we experience it, our understanding grows and reshapes itself. And remember, our love is rooted in our experiential knowing, and love carries us beyond what we can know. St. Paul, whose well-honed knowledge was blown to bits by his encounter with Jesus risen from the dead, wrote of this: “Love never fails. Knowledge is imperfect, partial. It will come to nothing.” Paul continues: “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, thought as a child, reasoned as a child; when I became an adult, I put aside childish ways.” (1 Corinthians 13: 8-11) Perhaps Jesus was trying to say to religious experts, “Grow up!”
Jana Buckley says:
Being able to better understand the role of the Religious leaders and everyday people in Jesus’ day here on earth helps me to see how I, too, can be an obstacle to others whenever I speak before listening. I just hope I can truly begin to change my order of exchanges with others. Thank you for taking us into the scene at the time of Jesus’ ministry.